ENT and Allergy Associates

After waiting two hours I saw doctor Aviv and he was absolutely wonderful. Worth the wait!

5 years since I went in for a procedure, and they sent a collections agency after me. I went in for a simple procedure when I was sick, asked them not to perform any procedures without checking with me or asking if insurance covered it, and they went forward anyway. The procedure took 3 minutes and I have been battling with a collections agency and this office over $ 250 ever since. They are scheming and money grubbing. Go elsewhere!!! Anywhere else! Unacceptable business practice!

I’m not sure what the lengthy dissertation of a bad review is all about on here.
I have seen both Dr. Markowitz and Dr. Lin and find that my level of care was fabulous.
The girls at check in are all really friendly and I have never experienced any attitude issues or anyone having a bad day. If you get yourself there on time, you are pretty much going to be seen on time or within a few minutes of your appointment.
Dr. Lin was running a little late yesterday, but all of the waiting patients were informed of the delay. Only one patient in the office lost his cool over the situation. I would rather wait a little and have good Doctoring, than to be rushed like I was just a number.
This was my first visit with Dr. Lin, and he was very concise, listened to my concerns, expressed all of the pros and cons of the situation and I felt like he was really going to take care of my needs. I have no second thoughts about seeing Dr. Lin again. His pre-​op assistant was also very nice and very informative.
My previous visits with Dr. Markowitz have also been great (if going to the doctor can in anyway be great). He is my regular look up my nose doctor and I think he’s pretty fabulous. He also wears some awesome ties. I digress.
So in conclusion, not all Dr. s have a perfect beside manner, if you had to look up 100 noses a day, maybe you might have an off day too, but I think this place is A+ for service and care of their patients. There are a lot of other ENT doctors out there, but none as good as at this location.

Here are the highlights:
–Great Availability
–Short wait time
–online forms
I saw Dr. Green who was very professional and personal. He took the time to discuss what was going on, and what the plan was.

I see the two negative reviews posted and I am was very surprised. I can’t speak highly enough of this practice. I have gone to see Dr. Markowitz twice over the last year. The office is professional, spacious, modern, clean and well organized. The staff is effective, pleasant and expeditious in their assistance. Easy to get an appointment and not a long wait. In terms of Dr. Markowitz, he TRULY is a find. I went to see him for two separate issues (voice hoarseness first and then perceived trouble hearing). On both occasions Dr. Markowitz was not only incredibly attentive, thorough and responsible about his care, he was PATIENT and he LISTENED. No bad doctor jokes or telling me not to worry about it while ushering me out the door. It is clear that not only is he a great physician but a dedicated one and that is not east to come by. This practice gets ten thumbs up.

Important: please note that the verbiage used in all of my discussions with the ENT office was «paid for by my insurance» and «no out of pocket expenses» as opposed to «covered by my insurance.»
I just received a «final notice» bill for $ 706.93 stating that if the full amount isn’t paid, they will put this up for collections.
When I scheduled my first appointment with Dr. Markowitz to check up on a chronic inner ear condition that I’ve had and that has been stable for 15 years, I shared my health insurance information and verified with their office that the visit will be paid for in full by my insurance and all I’d be responsible for is the $ 40 co-​pay (which I paid at the time of the visit).
When I showed up for my appointment, I again confirmed that the $ 40 co-​pay would pay for the entire visit before going in to see the doctor.
When, during the visit, it became obvious that the doctor was suggesting an additional procedure (the hearing test), I explicitly asked «will this be paid for by my insurance as well or is there an additional charge for this?» I was told that my insurance would pay for it, so I agreed to do the test. Note, that I had fairly recent hearing test results available and that I had not noticed any changes in hearing since then, so if they had told me my insurance wouldn’t pay for this, I would have declined the test.
At the end of the visit, Dr. Markowitz suggested «re-​evaluating» my condition and requested blood tests and an MRI with third party labs. I had both past blood test and MRI results, so I said I will only do this if my insurance pays for it, in case he, as my new doctor, can find some new way to improve my chronic condition.
Dr. Markowitz’s assistant, Erin, processed the paperwork on the way out and told me that my insurance will «definitely» pay for the blood test. I asked «are you sure?» My policy has many exclusions, because it’s fairly low budget, so I always double check whether or not there will be out of pocket costs. Erin said, «yes, I’m sure.» I said «so I can just go to the lab and get it done and there won’t be any out of pocket costs, not even a co-​pay?» Erin again said «yes.» We went through a similar exchange with respect to the MRI.
After the blood tests and the MRI were done, I came in for the follow up appointment with Dr. Choe in the same office, because Dr. Markowitz wanted his input. Dr. Choe confirmed that there was nothing new they could tell me.
After the appointment, when I went to check out and pay my $ 40 co-​pay was when I was first hit with the news that there was a $ 446.97 balance on my account — the charge from my previous visit with Dr. Markowitz. Incredulously, I recounted all of the double and triple checking conversations I had and that their very own staff told me the $ 40 co-​pay would take care of everything. I asked if I would get hit with more costs than I expected from the appointment I just had as well. They said I had to take it up with billing, so I just paid the second $ 40 co-​pay and called billing when I got home. I did end up getting a high bill for that second appointment a few weeks later ($ 259.96, which accounts for the rest of the $ 706.93 total).
As part of the discussion with billing, I spoke to John, Raven, and Sue Gillis (their Director). All of them said they would work on cutting the charges down with the ENT’s office and all promised to call me back, delayed their calls, and ultimately dropped contact altogether. I left three follow-​up voicemails each over the course of three weeks, respectively, for Raven and Sue, and they never returned these final calls to give me a resolution.
I also spoke with Erin in the physician’s office and Dr. Markowitz himself, who insisted that he had nothing to do with billing and told me to work it out with the billing department.
At the same time, Explanations of Benefits for the MRI and blood tests came in. I was in shock, because the MRI, which Erin assured me would be paid for by my insurance, was not, and the bill was over $ 2,500. The blood test was slightly over $ 100. Thankfully, I was able to negotiate the MRI bill with the gracious folks at the third party facility to $ 500 (interestingly, Erin from the ENT office helped with this process). I haven’t been able to negotiate down the blood test bills yet.
In summary, I already incurred an out of pocket expense of $ 500 for the MRI that I would have never agreed to, had I known it would cost me anything at all, and will incur more expenses for the blood test (over $ 100). The third party MRI facility that had nothing to do with the misleading behavior of the ENT office was kind enough to negotiate to get this expense down to $ 500 (an 80% decrease). The ENT office that caused this whole debacle in the first place through their blatantly false statements refused to negotiate and is about to submit my bill to collections and mar my credit history.

I am not one to give poor reviews, but this place really needs to re-​think its practices. Our experience is similar to some other reviewers on here. My wife went here for a standard check up, and there were no issues. A month later we recieved a bill in the mail for 220 $. She called as this was out of the blue and believed it was a mistake. Well apparently during her standard check up exam, the doctor took it upon himself to conduct some test that is not covered by any insurance policy, without asking my wife for permission or providing any notification as to possible charges for an exam which is outside the scope of a standard checkup. The test was basically him looking down her throat for 10 seconds or so. Apparently this costs an additional 220 $. While I won’t say he did this to pad the bill, one must wonder how someone conducts procedures without any notification to the patient. Apparently the 300 $ dollars the insurance paid for a 5 min visit is not enough for them. We have complained and pleaded with the billing department, and while their responses were curteous they really could care less. We have now filed a complaint with the BBB, and are hoping for a resolution. AVOID THIS PLACE!

I saw a doctor for a new sleep study and reviewof my cpap for my apenea/​hypopnea in early August 2012 It took over 2 months to arrange the sleep study. At one point the company providing the sleep study materials called me begging me to get this doctor’s office to return their calls. I did the sleep study in early november and had to call numerous times to get the results, which I got in January. It’s 6 months after my initial appointment and I still have not received the promised prescription for a new cpap. On top of that, the doctor called and asked why I was bothering him with these questions because he had sent me to a sleep center whose doctors should be handling the issues. He hadn’t even read my chart so didn’t know the insurance company had denied me a sleep center study and had substituted an in-​home study!

There is some fishy about these three other reviews. The ENT staff is always helpful and courteous. Dr. Robert Green is an excellent and caring doctor with outstanding credentials He is thorough and explains every thing in detail. My wife and I have seen him many times and have always been pleased with the outcome.

The clinic misled me into doing allergy testing (they told me it would be like a regular doctor’s visit) and ended up sending us a $ 1000 bill for the testing. I called the office manager Lisa numerous times to try to resolve the issue promptly but never got a call back. The billing office asked me to file for «economic hardship» to get a discount but I refused to because: 1) I am not going to take advantage of the system when I am not in such hardship 2) I was mislead into doing the test thinking it is like a regular visit.
Stay away or risk falling prey to their unethical practice.

Of course the place you do not check the reviews for is the place you end up kicking yourself for because you should have checked. I am not giving this place 1 star I am giving it «MINUS STARS». Where do I even begin? First of all I was referred by CityMD to pay this Quack a visit. You know when you get multiple signs that you should leave and run for it but it’s like a train wreck that is going to happen no matter what. Anyways, I paid a visit to their clinic and went up to the receptionist to check in. The woman took my id and health card and told me to fill out the paper work. Okay so I filled out the paper work and gave it back to her promptly. I then went back to my seat and waited patiently my appointment was 8:20. As I waited there I noticed the woman had set my paperwork aside and had not processed it and I was concerned this would delay my appointment. Guess what it did. The other receptionist next to her was able to process all the people she saw so swiftly that the three people she processed after me went in before me. Really? So I went up to the woman who was to handle my paperwork and made it clear that I had been waiting to which she assured me I would be seen next. But of course this is New York and in New York, doctor’s offices and hospitals do not exude professionalism but more of a sleazy business with rude fast food waitress like mentality. Receptionist response to me telling her politely to be more efficient: Oh what you said something to me? Now I am going to give you a harder time. So it wasn’t till my mother went to speak to her that we were suddenly taken in how long was this? After 45 minutes I checked in. Ridiculous.
So then we got placed in a room to wait a little longer when I see this Elmer Fudd looking dude pulling some sheets of paper near my door and then whisking away (I gathered later he wanted to review my paperwork before he spoke with me). Of course this Elmer Fudd dude had to be the all and mighty specialist ENT person who was suppose to make me feel better and make dealing with the crazy nasty wretch outside worth it. But no so began the series of questions of my health history and then some quick check up test where I had a camera thing go up my nose. Okay so after all of this surely I am going to get the Doctor to recommend something for my cough and nasal drip and overall sick feeling. NOPE. This doctor goes on to tell me that I could practically be coughing and feeling sick for the rest of my life. Why? He suggested seeing another specialist an Allergist and conducting more tests ch-​ching to them from my insurance right?
But really why do Doctors do this routine bullshit take your copay and give you know value? Here some of my thoughts: the doctors in New York are basically pansies scared that their patients are not responsible enough to consume medicine and not get addicted to it. So they make every effort to give you utter bullshit nonsense about taking time to heal is the way to go. Oh yeah then why the heck did I come to see you? Is it supposed to be for my benefit that they are exercising caution? No they give a dang about you. I can only speak for the doctor I saw, Dr. Markowitz, but from my experience it appears doctors in NYC are cut from the same cloth. It is as if you get flipped from one doctor over to another so they can take advantage of your insurance benefits period. For one a Doctor is not a businessman and should not speak to you like one. And a patient is not a consumer okay. I do not know why doctors feel seeing a patient more than once is only worth their while. If you are going to run your practice like a business you are going to get a review like a business. I have had the ability to see doctors all over the world. Cannot believe that third world country doctors would treat me better and treat my conditions better. Who cares about your offices or that you use computers or have any other frills. When someone is sick it is the Doctor’s job to find out why and treat them efficiently and effectively. I really do not know what the explanation for the way this visit turned out was malpractice suit, stupidity, just lack of care? Is there an Anti antibiotic movement I missed somewhere? I get practices want to be cautious because of liability reasons but the overall the quality of healthcare is going down the tube. There is no reason for a patient to only be able to get the right medication on the second, third, fourth visit and not the first. It seems like visiting doctors has become bizarre like after they have milked as much as they can and tried everything low risk on the patient they can then maybe they will go ahead and prescribe the right thing. All I can say is something fishy is going on.

The 86^th Street location of ENT has a great staff. They’re attentive, smart and fast. From the friendly front desk, to the physician assistants, the nurses and the doctors. Never had a problem with the service here. I wish I knew everyones name here. I’m glad I don’t, because that would mean that I’m always sick! Dr. Granady is an excellent Allergist, and Dr. Lin is a great doctor as well.